Mimi Alemayehou
Managing Director, Black Rhino Group
Executive Advisor and Chair, Blackstone Africa Infrastructure L.P.

Alemayehou is a managing director at Black Rhino. She also serves as an executive advisor and chair of Blackstone Africa Infrastructure L.P. She joined Black Rhino and Blackstone in 2014. Prior to joining both organizations, she was the executive vice president of The Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the development finance agency of the U.S. government, under the Obama Administration.

During her tenure from 2010 to 2014, OPIC’s portfolio grew by more than 24 percent to $18 billion. Her leadership was instrumental in tripling the corporation’s Africa portfolio to nearly $4 billion. She was one of the architects of President Obama’s Power Africa initiative to increase energy access across the continent.

Previously, she was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as the United States Executive Director on the board of the African Development Bank. As the senior Treasury official in Africa, she represented the U.S. on Treasury and development issues and was instrumental in pushing the AfDB to increase its lending to the private sector in support of infrastructure projects.

Prior to AfDB, she was founder and managing partner of Trade Links, LLC, a development consulting firm. She also managed a multi-country trade project in Africa for the International Executive Service Corps, and was director of International Regulatory Affairs for WorldSpace Corporation, a satellite telecommunications company. She started her career in the U.S. Congress, working for U.S. Representative Mac Thornberry.

She has a Master’s degree in International Business and International Law and Development from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University.